Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, ordered authorities to pay full salaries to their employees next Thursday or Sunday. He also ordered the controlling of prices and a ban on cost increases, especially for fuel. Executive Committee Member of the PLO, Wasel Abu Yousef, said exclusively to Arabstoday, \"this decree came after a wave of protests in Palestinian territories due to rising prices\". Abu Yousef added, \"the President has followed the protests in the last days and decided to pay Palestinian employees\' salaries for August and control prices, in order to lift burdens.\" The Palestinian territories have witnessed several protests condemning price rises and calling for the government to resign. Protests closed the main street in Ramallah leading to the presidency headquarters. A slowdown of trucks in Hebron in the West Bank led to traffic being crippled completely.